Sen. Schwartz and Sen. Whitehead bring new energy to Colorado

Committee passes new Renewable Energy Standard

- Thousands of new jobs,

- 100,000 solar rooftops over the next decade,

- New companies coming to Colorado,

- and Coloradans getting back to work.

These will be the results of House Bill 1001, sponsored by Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass) and Senator Bruce Whitehead (D-Hesperus) and Rep. Max Tyler (D-Golden), which will increase Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard to 30% by 2020. That means that nearly a third of the power generated from large utility companies like Xcel and Black Hills must come from renewable sources, like solar and wind, in the next 10 years.

The Senate Local Government and Energy Committee passed HB 1001 by a vote of 4-3.

“I’m proud to sponsor HB 1001 and continue making progress towards a greener Colorado,” said Sen. Schwartz. “Throughout my career I have worked tirelessly to bring renewable energy to our great state. I have sponsored legislation to provide training for new energy workers, to make renewable energy in our state affordable for companies, and to make it accessible for the average citizens. Encouraging green energy creates jobs, brings investment, and helps our state remain a national leader in renewable energy. It just makes sense.”

“HB 1001 is our boldest step yet in moving Colorado towards renewable energy,” said Sen. Whitehead. “Increasing our renewable energy standards to 30% is not only going to create a healthier environment, but also a healthier economy. This bill will bring businesses and jobs to Colorado at no expense to tax payers.”

An increased RES will give Colorado the highest clean-energy requirement in the Rocky Mountain West. Colorado has created 17,000 jobs in renewable energy and energy research since it began investing in the New Energy Economy, the fourth-highest concentration in the nation. With more than 300 sunny days a year in Colorado and some of the best wind resources in the country, HB 1001 will recharge the economy by incentivizing more residential, commercial and community solar projects. Some estimates predict that an increased RES could create thousands of jobs.

“I’m proud to help carry a bill that will lead to a cleaner, greener Colorado and will bring thousands of jobs to the state,” said Rep. Max Tyler. “This bill represents a huge step forward into the future of renewable energy usage and sets a precedent for us to become less dependent on fossil fuels. The benefit of renewable energy forms is that they occur naturally: sunshine, wind and water, we've got it.”

HB 1001 also sets the requirement that 3 percent of total electricity sales come from “distributed generation” (DG) systems such as solar. These DG systems help drive local market activity, allow energy consumers lower their electricity bills by going solar, and enable utilities to avoid costly investment in new transmission systems.

Today, legislators joined advocates at Vote Solar and Environment Colorado to release a new report, “Investing in the Sun,” that models the economic and environmental benefits of developing solar electricity on homes and businesses across Colorado. The report analyzed the benefits of building 1,000 megawatts (MW) of smaller, distributed solar energy systems in Colorado. In addition to other distributed generation resources such as small-scale wind, HB 10-1001 is expected to deploy 700 MW of solar generation by 2020, which could result in the creation of 23,450 jobs over the next 10 years. Extending the same requirement statewide, Colorado could expect to see 1000 MW of new solar power, and the full benefits quantified in "Investing in the Sun."

Full text of the study can be found at: www.votesolar.org/coloradoreport

“Investing in the Sun” indicates that 1,000 megawatts of distributed solar energy would deliver the following benefits over the lifetime of the systems:

Generate enough reliable, homegrown electricity to power 146,000 Colorado homes
Create more than 33,500 jobs in Colorado's New Energy Economy
Produce $4.3 billion in total economic output (direct, indirect and induced economic activity generated through the construction and maintenance of the solar projects)
Save 6.8 billion gallons of water, a limited resource in Colorado
Avoid emitting 30 million tons of the global warming pollutant carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking nearly 670,000 cars off the road
“This report proves what we already know: the New Energy Economy is creating jobs in Colorado for Coloradans,” said Sen. Gail Schwartz. “By raising our Renewable Energy Standard, we will see thousands of new jobs and prove that Colorado is leading the nation when it comes to innovation.”

We can be the best in the West by rolling up our sleeves and putting Coloradans to work building tens of thousands of solar rooftops on homes, stores, and office buildings across the state,” said Pam Kiely, program director at Environment Colorado. “Going solar is smart economic strategy, and a critical environmental solution-- and HB 1001 puts us squarely on track to get there.”

”Coloradans spoke loudly in support of solar on the ballot in 2004, and since then we've worked hard to grow markets in Colorado through smart public policy,” said Rick Gilliam, Vice President of Government Affairs for SunEdison which opened up a new regional operations center in Westminster last year. “The stronger the commitment that the state can make today to developing our solar potential, the more attractive it will be for businesses like ours and the larger the investment we will be able to make in cities and towns across Colorado.”

Colorado became the first state with a voter-approved Renewable Energy Standard in 2004 with the passage of Amendment 37, which set a 10 percent by 2015 goal. Gov. Ritter, Sen. Gail Schwartz and othr lawmakers doubled the RES to 20 percent by 2020 in 2007.

HB 1001 will now head to the Senate Appropriations committee.